


I'll Be Your Last

by mylifeisloki



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), What's Your Number? (2011)
Genre: F/M, Tumblr Prompt, based on 'What's Your Number?', but with Natasha and Steve, credit to the writers because I did use some dialogue right from the movie, fluff?, i think, this is basically just..., with very few changes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-29
Updated: 2014-08-29
Packaged: 2018-02-15 08:01:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2221557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylifeisloki/pseuds/mylifeisloki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fic based on the story of 'What's Your Number?', except it's Natasha worried about how Steve might react to the number of people she's slept with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Be Your Last

**Author's Note:**

> I was asked for fluff, which is not a strength of mine. Again, credit to the writers of the movie for their awesome dialogue.

“Come on, Spangles,” Tony mocked from the bar, perched on a stool with his fifth glass of scotch in hand. “How many? Can’t be more than a few, can it? Not with your flirting skills.”

So, it turned out that hell was real. Steve was trapped at a “guy’s night” with the rest of the team, plus a few stragglers, and they'd gone through so many topics that he didn't want to discuss already-- but this was definitely the worst one. Not for the first time that night, he definitely wished he was out with Nat and the girls doing whatever it was they had planned. It was bad enough that he had to listen to Tony and Clint discussing what kind of women they liked most and managed to fumble through his own answer well enough without sounding too suspicious, but this was just terrible.

“None of your damn business,” he huffed, taking another swig of whiskey from where he sat in an armchair staring down the curious glances from the rest of the team. “Besides, you know damn, right and well that it's not more than your number, so why bother?”

Tony laughed and sat back, arms sprawled out against the edge of the bar behind him. “Of course it's not more than my number, but my number isn't even close to Thor's, so we're all even... except the god of fertility over there.”

Thor grinned proudly and shrugged, not at all ashamed of just how many people he'd slept with in his lifetime. Tony's number was impressive too, Clint's just slightly under that and Bruce's a bit less, capping in at ten (“Eight before the accident, two after.”). Tony knocked back the rest of his drink and set the glass down. “Come on,” he pleaded. “Tell us how many.”

Steve was understandably hesitant to tell them that he'd only slept with two people in his whole life-- a girl way back during the army, and Bucky. He was pretty sure only Thor knew that he was batting for both teams, so he wouldn't be going into detail regardless unless he wanted Tony all of a sudden asking him _way_ more uncomfortable questions. Fine. It wasn't like Tony didn't already make fun of him for everything he did.

“Two,” he mumbled, his lips already on his glass so he could take in another mouthful of whiskey while the others went silent.

“ _Two_?” Tony sounded like he'd never heard anything so ridiculous before in his life. Thor raised his eyebrows in something akin to concern and Clint let out a bark of awkward laughter. “You’ve only been with two people? How is that—Somehow that’s _worse_ than if you’d said you were a virgin. At least then you would have been saving it or some shit. But two? Why the hell have you only slept with two people?”

Steve clenched his jaw to avoid hinting at sleeping with Howard just to piss Tony off. “I guess I just don’t have the appeal you guys do,” he deadpanned, sarcastic and about three hundred percent done with this conversation.

Unfortunately for him, the girls chose that moment to come back. They strutted into the room and sat down- Pepper beside Tony at the bar, Maria on the couch close to Clint and Natasha perched on the arm of Steve’s chair. “What are we talking about?” Natasha asked, glancing down to Steve for an answer.

He shook his head, perfectly content to refill his whiskey and have at it without giving her the answer she was looking for. Tony filled in, of course. “We’re talking about how many people we’ve slept with,” he announced. “You want to weigh in, Nat?” She rolled her eyes at him and was about to actually speak when Tony just bubbled over and had to reveal what they’d just learned. “Steve here has only slept with two. He’s our little underachiever. As for the winner tonight, that would be Thor at a whopping forty-seven…”

Annoyed, Steve huffed to himself and was so busy thinking about what he might do to Tony to get back at him for this particular embarrassment that he totally missed Natasha's number. All he heard was an impressed whistle from Tony before he announced that Steve was “still the loser”.

“I’m done for tonight,” he interrupted quickly, setting down his glass and standing up. “Good evening, ladies.” With a little nod of his head, Steve made a very hasty retreat down the hall and into the elevator, where he took quite a few minutes to softly thump his head against the wall. Natasha was probably up there laughing at him with the others—it wouldn’t have mattered if he didn’t like her the way he did.

As it turned out, however, Natasha was actually interested in him for some reason and they did start to date once Steve had worked up to asking her out. A dinner here, a night of dancing there… It was all going really well, in his opinion, and he hoped she thought so too. But his signals got crossed one night after dinner, while they were sitting on the couch enjoying a bottle of wine and some music. It had been nearly two months since they started going out and while they’d kissed, they hadn’t even approached taking the next step and quite honestly, Steve was starting to wonder why that was. Not that he was in a rush or anything, but Natasha always looked like she was holding back.

In any case, they’d had a good night and Steve was kind of hoping that she might take her kisses up a notch, crawling onto his lap or pulling him over her or something, but no such luck. Instead, she pecked him on the lips and bid him a good night, leaving him confused and wondering if perhaps he’d done something wrong or was moving too fast.

The next time they got together, Steve decided that he’d make a move. They’d gone out to the beach that day and spent time in the water, relaxing on the sand, just talking and teasing the day away. By the time the sun was setting, they were sitting together eating a simple dinner and just enjoying one another’s company. It was romantic. It was a good moment, so when they were through and had resorted to light touches and simple kisses, Steve ducked his head and kissed her neck, mouthing along the smooth skin until he found a spot that made her gasp—and shove him away.

“We’d better get home,” she said firmly. “It’s getting late.”

Another month later, they still hadn’t moved beyond little kisses and normal, slightly affectionate touching. Steve was beginning to think that either she didn’t want him quite like that, or maybe he was pushing her too hard. Either way, he was frustrated. When he found himself with a lapful of Natasha a few nights later and felt her hands sliding over his arms in reverent fascination only to pull away a moment later, he knew it wasn’t the second. He had to have done something, right? Did normal relationships progress to sex within three months?

By the time their fourth month was drawing to a close, Steve was facing some serious dilemmas. The thing about Natasha was that she was inherently sexy, especially to him. Steve would find himself staring as she worked out in the gym, swallowing hard when she touched his chest and desperately attempting to keep his hands to himself whenever she dressed up to go out with him.

He lasted two more weeks before he popped.

“Alright, tell me what it is,” he begged, throwing down his sketchbook in the midst of a quiet afternoon at home, Clint and Thor playing video games while he and Natasha sketched and read, respectively. “Come on. Is it me? Am I trying to go too fast? Do you not want—I mean, are we ever going to—I’m sorry, but I’m a little _confused_ and—“

Natasha cut him off, slowly dragging her eyes away from the book on her lap. “You didn’t do anything,” she said smoothly. Oh. So she knew what he was talking about. “It’s my problem, okay?”

Steve blinked. “Is it that I’ve only been with two people?” he blurted out, reddening in the face especially as Clint snickered from where he was sitting with Thor. Natasha glared for a moment, getting up and dragging him out of the room by his hand, eventually shoving him against a wall around the corner so the others couldn’t hear.

“I’m just trying to do this right,” she hissed up at him, pointing out the obvious and nearly making him cringe. “I know my number freaked you out and I’m not apologizing for how many people I’ve slept with, but at some point it gets a little ridiculous and…“

Oh. Oh, that made a lot more sense, but she was wrong! He didn’t care in the slightest and it wasn’t like he was trying to take advantage. He really liked her. “Nat, I—“

She cut him off again, holding a hand up. “It’s fine,” she countered. “You don’t have to apologize for it. My number is way up there and I don’t want to fuck up any more.”

“Why do you care about your number so much?” That was what he wanted to know. Why did she seem to think that it was a screw up if she slept with another guy?

Natasha sighed. “Because men have this ideal in mind and while I’ve never really cared, I’m almost positive that a man like you _definitely_ has an ideal. And a girl can only sleep with so many people before she can’t be that ideal woman anymore.”

Steve tried not to give her a look that might be interpreted as amused, but attempted to look patient instead. He wanted to understand. “Tell me about this ideal girl, would you?”

“Smart, but not too smart,” she began right away, ticking things off on her fingers. “She bakes apple pies with your mom and plays catch with your siblings. She can be the clean-cut virgin librarian _and_ the girl who puts on a catsuit and fucks you sideways, not one or the other. You know, she’s the girl you can take home to your family.”

He really did try not to, but Steve let out a chuckle and shook his head. “I’m pretty sure that girl doesn’t exist,” he said seriously. “If she did, I’d stay as far away from her as possible. She sounds like a pain in the ass. What kind of guy would care about how many people you’ve slept with anyway?”

She stared at him for a moment, lips pressed into a thin line. “Decent guys.”

Steve laughed at that, reaching out for her hands and leaning down to give her a charming, lopsided grin. “I guess I’m not a decent guy,” he shrugged, lightly rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. That wasn’t the worst thing in the world. “I don’t _care_ ,” he murmured, brushing their lips together. “Ten or twenty or fifty seven, I don’t care.” He pressed their lips together again and let his hands reach out to hold her waist, tugging her closer. “What do you say I prove that to you right now?”

Natasha looked like she wasn’t sure what to think. “You really don’t care?” she asked, carefully watching him for any hint of a lie or some kind of deception, as if Steve could actually lie to her. He shook his head and smiled, leaning down for another kiss.

“Not in the slightest, but if you want, you can set me up with people until our numbers match. I mean, if that would make you feel better.” Natasha looked appropriately against that and looped her arms around his neck in a gesture of possession- something Steve loved. The furrowed brow and the determined look on her face made Steve chuckle.

Several hours later, once Steve had done his very best to make sure she knew he was in for the long run by making love to her in each and every way they could come up with, he landed on his back and folded his hands together behind his head. Thoroughly satisfied, Natasha sprawled out on top of him and folded her arms over his chest, propping her chin up on top of them.

“Do you have an ideal girl?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “You can be honest.”

Steve smiled and nodded seriously. “I do,” he confirmed, watching Natasha’s smile lessen a little bit. “I absolutely do.” He sighed, shifting a little and looking off to the side like he was deep in thought. “My ideal girl is… beautiful,” he began. “Beautiful, with curves like a pin-up girl. She’s really smart, too- probably smarter than I’ll ever be. She’s funny and sweet, and she’s the kind of girl my mom would love just because of her spirit.” He paused. “She’s got more attitude than I know what to do with and can put me in my place at a moment’s notice, maybe even best me in the ring once or twice.”

Finally, he brought his eyes back to her and grinned boyishly. “She also sounds unbelievably sexy when she slips into Russian in bed,” he said quickly, getting smacked with a pillow just a moment later.

Smiling to herself, Natasha shifted a little to tuck her head under his chin and Steve let his arm fall around her, idly tracing up and down the curve of her spine. “Once or twice,” she murmured in protest. “Try 'most of the time' and then we can talk.” Steve chuckled and smiled widely as she tilted her head up to kiss under his jaw.

“For the record,” he said cautiously, not wanting to scare her away. “Maybe I wasn't your first or second or whatever, but I'm kind of hoping to be your last.” She tensed a little and Steve braced himself for some kind of rejection, but Natasha leaned up and tilted her head at him.

“Are you going to murder me in my sleep or something?” Steve's hesitant smile relaxed into a disbelieving look and a stern shake of his head. She, however, was far more amused and burst out laughing at the look on his face. “You suck,” he chuckled back.

Natasha gave him a wet, smacking kiss and grinned. “You love it,” she countered, still smiling widely. Steve took his opening and nodded, agreeing right away.

“You're right,” he said, meeting her gaze. “I do love it.”

Anything more specific was left unsaid for the moment, but Natasha pressed their lips together and didn't let up until Steve brushed his fingertips under her ribs, right over the one ticklish spot she had, and she laughed again, rolling away. Once they'd calmed, Natasha pressed her back to Steve's chest and pulled his arm around her, curling up to go to sleep while he deposited little, sleepy kisses over her shoulder until he fell asleep as well.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! <3


End file.
